The invention relates to a copying machine, especially a small photocopying machine for an office. The photocopying machine of the invention has a receiver for a cassette which carries a stack of coated photo-sensitive sheets, a separating station, a charging station, an exposing station provided with an exposing window, a developing station provided with a magnetic roller, and a fixing station provided with a pair of pressing rolls, all arranged in a lower housing part. The machine of the invention also has an optical system and a receiving slide block for an original to be copied arranged in an upper housing part, the upper housing part being movably supported at the lower housing part.
In previously contemplated photocopying machines the receiver for the stacked paper cassette and the separate stations or devices are arranged one behind the other on a rail so that the separate devices are visible and accessible upon the opening of the machine housing. This arrangement provided a machine that exhibited a cross-sectional shape corresponding to approximately 2 1/2 times the length of the format of the paper to be copied. In practice the trend has been toward the positioning of these copying machines at personnel work stations so that the required travel to a centrally located copying machine is spared. In order for the machines to be placed without hindrances in the area of the workstations there is a requirement for the smallest possible and most compact copying machine that requires little space.
The invention relates to the problem of providing a copying machine of the above mentioned kind, which is constructed as small and compact as possible, without impairing the servicing accessibility to the separate operating devices. This problem is solved according to preferred embodiments of the invention by providing that the receiver for the cassette is arranged on the housing floor and parallel thereto, with a paper reversing guide connected to the cassette receiver and exhibiting a sheet turning angle of approximately 220 degrees in the upward and opposite direction with respect to the cassette receiver. A charging device and exposing station follow the paper reversing guide with a downwardly, inclined travel path therethrough with respect to the housing floor. The end of the paper reversing guide, the charging device, the exposing device or station, the developing station and the fixing station are arranged one behind the other within the upward vertical projection of the length of the sheets in a cassette held in the cassette receiver.
Through this above-noted construction, a copying machine is produced which exhibits an area which is not much larger than the size of the format to be copied, corresponding to the format of the stack of papers, so that an exceptionally small and compact copying machine is provided. Because the separate elements or stations, which in any event require examination or servicing, are arranged one behind the other in the copying machine housing lower part, a good accessibility and ease of servicing is guaranteed. Additionally, the arrangement provides for a very short transport path for the copying paper, thus removing the need for intermediate paper guides and additional paper transport elements so that construction costs are minimized.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, a single embodiment in accordance with the present invention.